Apr 2, 2010

Artichokes stuffed with breadcrumbs and grated cheese make a fun holiday side dish or enjoy these for lunch. Digging into the leaves and scooping out the fleshy part of the leaf is fun.

These require a little bit of prep work but if you're an artichoke lover, it's worth it. Expect to get messy when eating these because you'll be eating them with your hands and you might want to set extra plates to put the discarded leaves. If you've never eaten a stuffed artichoke before, what you have to do is pull off a leaf and scrape the fleshy part at the leaf's bottom between your teeth, and discard the rest of the leaf. Once all the leaves are gone, you'll be left with the artichoke heart in the center which is probably the best part and worth working towards. These are filling! You may want to share one or you can eat a whole one as a meal. Enjoy!!

Cut the stems and the tops off the artichokes. Using a scissor cut off the tips of the leaves and squeeze lemon all over to prevent browning.

In a large pot, fill with 4 cups water and place artichokes upside down in pot. Boil 12-14 minutes. Remove from water and set aside to cool. When artichokes have cooled, remove the center leaves and scoop out the choke with a teaspoon.

Place artichokes in a baking dish and stuff the centers and leaves all around with the stuffing. Spray lightly with olive oil. Fill the bottom of the baking dish with broth and wine and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 40 minutes at 350° removing the foil the last 10 minutes of baking.

32 comments
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Gina~ by any chance are you following along with our group 'Pomodori e Vino'~ we are cooking our way through the Essentials of Italian Cooking. Every day a new recipe.My challange this week was artichokes!This is a friday favorite!

Hi Gina, I adore artichokes and find this a completely new way to serve them,plus having the pictures makes it so clear: Thank you so much, and Happy Easter from a sunny Switzerland, (well,at least here in the South!!)

Oh my gosh.. you READ MY MIND! I have been absolutely dying for a stuffed artichoke! As duckandjunebug mentioned, they're everywhere here in New Orleans, and I have to put my blinders on when I walk by them because they're so packed with oil and cheese. My plan was to splurge on half of one at the Jazz Fest in a couple of weeks, but now I can tame the artichoke beast in my own kitchen. You're so clever and have the best recipes!

Made these last night and the turned out great!! The only suggestion I would make would be to squirt some more lemon juice over the finished product. The acid really brought out the flavors of the stuffing. My "chef" suggested that! :-)

I'm hosting the appetizer course of our MOMS Club traveling holiday party in a couple of weeks and I'm looking for some new appetizer recipes to try. I've always wanted to try stuffed artichokes and was thinking now might be the time. My question is, are the leaves easily removable if I place say 3-4 artichokes on a platter and people can just pull a few leaves for their plate? Thanks for your help!